Iran's President Hassan Rouhani met with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro on Friday night and stressed Tehran's readiness for further cooperation with Caracas.
President Rouhani departed for Venezuela on Friday to attend the 17th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) en route to New York, where he will participate and address the UN General Assembly.
In his meeting with Maduro at Wyndham Concorde hotel in Magarita, Rouhani pointed to friendly ties between Iran and Venezuela, felicitating his counterpart for assuming the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement. He underlined Iran is ready to present its four years of experience in presidency of the movement to Venezuela.
Pointing to the key regional and international developments, Rouhani asserted that NAM can play a major role in global issues and its members should advance their collective interests with unity and cooperation.
President Rouhani also referred to the issue of long-term decline in oil prices and its effects on international economy, saying market stability, fair price and fair share of oil producers will guarantee the sustainable benefits of energy producers and consumers.
He also expressed Iran's interest in broadening cooperation in various economic and investment spheres with Venezuela, evaluating as favorable the holding of a joint commission of the two countries to promote projects and plans.
Venezuela's president, for his part, stressed that Caracas is determined to develop cooperation in all fields with Tehran, saying Iran and Venezuela have wide opportunities for cooperation. "We are interested in joint ventures in fields of industry, infrastructure and energy," Maduro underlined.
President Maduro stressed the need for the activation of the two countries' joint economic commission and said the commission can bolster Tehran–Caracas relations.
He pointed to the declined oil prices and said oil-producing countries have strongly suffered from declining prices and must be united to stabilize the prices.
In his visit to the Latin American country, President Hassan Rouhani is to chair the 17th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on Saturday. He will then hand over NAM’s rotating presidency to President Maduro.
The summit, which ends on Sept. 18, will have meetings scheduled in three consecutive segments: meeting of senior officials, foreign ministers meeting, and summit of heads of state and government.
Venezuela is the third country in Latin America to assume the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement. Cuba took the leadership in 1979 and 2006, and Colombia did the same in 1995.